For many years, contact lenses have been used to correct a variety of vision problems. Some contact lenses are made of a hard inflexible plastic or glass, and others are made of a softer flexible plastic formed in a thin, circular sheet. Each contact lens has a natural curvature that substantially matches the curvature of the eye to permit adherence of the contact to the surface of the eye. However, the exact curvature of the contact lens relative to the curvature of the wearer's eye must be determined according to the wearer's particular vision problem.
Some soft contact lenses, known as "extended wear" contact lenses, have become increasingly popular. These contact lenses are typically made of a relatively thin and flexible plastic material and are designed to remain on the eye of a wearer for extended periods of time, such as multiple days or more. After passage of the appropriate period of time, the wearer simply removes the contact lens, disposes of it and replaces it with a new extended wear contact lens. The extended wearability reduces the time required for insertion and removal of contact lenses, normally done on a daily basis.
Companies manufacturing extended wear contact lenses have reduced the material costs and increased the comfort of the contact lenses by making them thinner than conventional hard or soft contact lenses. However, the reduced thickness of the contact lens causes difficulty in applying the contact lens to the surface of the wearer's eye.
Normally, the extended wear, disposable contact lens is packaged in a saline solution, and the wearer simply grasps the lens and applies it to an eye with his or her finger. For example, the contact lens may be grasped between the thumb and forefinger and then pressed onto the eye with the forefinger. With thinner contact lenses, there is a greater tendency for the lens to fold on itself or invert and wrap about the tip of the forefinger. It then becomes difficult to achieve transference of the contact lens from the finger to the eye, because the contact lens tends to stick to the wearer's finger rather than his eye. This results in inadvertent removal or dislodging of the lens as the wearer's finger is pulled away from the eye.
Dirt and bacteria inherently carried on finger tips can also be problematic, because they are moved with the contact lens directly into fluid contact with the eye. It would be advantageous to provide a contact lens applicator designed to conform to the surface shape of the wearer's eye and to release the contact lens onto the eye without contamination from dirt or bacteria.